July 7, 2008
Executive Search Committee for the Next Mayor
Titans of industry are working to find a suitable mayoral candidate in a similar vein as Mayor Michael Bloomberg, according to the NY Times. The Times even calls the executives ("some of New York’s most influential business leaders: Martin Lipton, a founding partner of the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz; the financier Steven Rattner; and Jerry I. Speyer, chairman of the developer Tishman Speyer") "desperate"--Mayor B ought to feel very flattered that he's so beloved amongst his peers!
So far, the name most bandied about is Time Warner chairman Richard Parson, who has not expressed interest. The business leaders' interest in a like-minded candidate is self-serving, of course, since the current Mayor is considered very friendly with corporations. While many do like Bloomberg's distaste for partisanship, a downside of a rich leader is perhaps a lack of empathy for the every person.
Bloomberg has been investigating how city residents feel about repealing term limits, though he still claims he's going to leave public office after his term ends in 2009. For what it's worth, Donald Trump told the Times is all about removing term limits, “I have absolutely heard that there would be a positive response — and a movement — to keep him in office after this term ends.”
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I don't think rich, white Jewish mayor is going to fit in in any of the pool cliques.
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Bloomberg rocks hard, even if he is rich and out of touch.
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Ugh, don't swim with a shirt on. For God's sake, I pay taxes; I expect some manboob.
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He is one odd dude and I disagree with a bunch of his policies, but that picture (especially the very cute smile on his face) is so cool.
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Bloomberg, redefining the Army of One.
One thing that I respect about NYC is that this city's residents make no bones about what they are doing. There is no pretense that the "democratic" process works as fantasized by many idealistic voters.
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Hopefully, we'll get someone like him, that's not afraid to do what he feels is right. The best thing about both Rudy and Mike is they came into office without a lot of baggage. They weren't supposed to win, so the Democrat machine in NYC couldn't dictate the jobs and the spending as much as they would have liked to. They both did commendable jobs. The streets are cleaner and safer. The schools are much more productive. The best tip off, if the city was failing, would be college graduates not flocking here and the rents tanking. The kids keep on coming and the real estate keeps getting more expensive.
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Yeah, let's get another Bloomberg situation so we can have more f**ked up zoning tha caters to developers and have more beautiful glass and steel out of scale luxury condos. Disgusting and boring.
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let's start churning out those "hands" ads and welfare queen ads and the paying for coke with foodstamp ads.
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Dinkens in 2012! or when ever.
He did so much for New York. If re-elected he would put an addition on to the tennis stadium. That's the kind of progressive thinking New York needs.
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It's possible that Bloomberg has done some good things for the city and some bad things for the city. It's also possible that former mayors have benefited (or suffered) from broader economic circumstances, causing their terms to be perceived as more effective (or ineffective) than they actually were.
Everything is not always fit into the nice buckets of "excellent" and "awful" as some commentators here would suggest.
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"Everything is not always fit into the nice buckets of "excellent" and "awful" as some commentators here would suggest."
Could you name three mayors of NYC that made the city better, going back to James Duane who was the first mayor of free New York City?
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Stop stammering!
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That Jewish boy has bouyancy. Some people say that blacks don't. Was it Nick the Greek that said it?
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I'm not a huge Bloomberg fan but compared to the half-baked marxists the democrats usually run, he looks like General Patton by comparison.
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I think having people from the real world and not career politicians is a good idea. We would probably be better off and closer to the founding fathers original intent to have someone come from a real job, do their service and return instead of having Sheldon Silver or Joe Bruno syndrome.
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Bloomberg is a fascist money drone. I can't believe you people want another one of him.
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I will be glad to see him out of office. And yeah, the rich clucks how made out like bandits during his tenure are wondering who else they can put in office to keep the money flowing towards them. Thieves one and all.
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And BTW, when people start gushing about the intent of "the founding Fathers" I want to barf.
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thankfully Pb is still cheap
unless he's going to tax it but who cares, we'll just buy it in a friendly State.
Molon Labe.
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I'm glad the NYT published this article. It gives people something to think about. The city doesn't need another rich CEO type as mayor. Sorry.
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Yes. Bloomy should have shown us some manboob.
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He wore a white shirt last year, one think he looks like Monte Burns if he took that shirt off.
We don't need another rich person running the City.
I can't believe someone thought Fernando Ferrer had a chance.
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Maybe we should elect a scientist/brainiac so we can have flying taxis in the next few years.
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Snoopy, I actually had work to do and don't spend most of my waking hours commenting on Gothamist.
That said, has any mayor of NYC been in office during such a period of prosperity (particularly for the moneyed elite in the financial sector) as Giuliani and Bloomberg? I think not. Even if you take a mayor from the post-WWII area (unfortunately, Tammany Hall was still very influential then), the gains were a little more distributed and in fact, helped the suburbs as people moved from urban areas - aided in no small part by Detroit and Corbusier-influenced builders like Moses.
What I'm saying is that while Bloomberg has done some great things, he's also been a magnificent beneficiary of an economic boom that was largely out of his control.
Also, I would count Van Wyck as the first "Mayor of NYC" since he was the first elected post-Consolidation, although I see your point on Mayor Duane.
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Consolidation destroyed what was once a great city. The rich supporting the poor is the result of that consolidation. There is New York and then there is the outer boros. "Liberatate Neuova Yorka" or something like that. Also bring back the Giants and tear down the public housing and build a new Polo Grounds on it's original site.